The present invention relates to an inflatable restraint system, and more particularly to an algorithm which discriminates a must-deploy side impact event for a side air bag system.
Driver side or passenger side supplemental inflatable restraint (SIR) systems typically include an air bag stored in a housing module within the interior of the vehicle in close proximity to either the driver or one or more passengers. SIR systems are designed to actuate upon sudden deceleration so as to rapidly deploy an air bag to restrain the movement of the driver or passengers. During deployment, gas is emitted rapidly from an inflator into the air bag to expand it to a fully inflated state.
A conventional supplemental inflatable restraint often includes a side impact air bag installed inside a vehicle seat or inner portion of a vehicle door. When a side impact is detected, gas is instantaneously blown out from the gas generating device into the bag so that the bag is inflated between the side of the vehicle and the passenger. With the bag disposed between the side of the vehicle and the passenger in the vehicle, the shock applied to the passenger caused by the deformed door and the like is absorbed by the bag to protect the passenger.
In conventional side impact air bag system, the bag inflates in a direction substantially perpendicular to an input of side impact when the side impact occurs, therefore, the air bag is required to be instantly inflated with a high pressure in order to positively inflate the bag in a narrow space between the vehicle door and the passenger.
Discrimination of a must-deploy side impact event from other non-deploy events and abuse events may be difficult with acceleration-based crash sensors. The task may be further complicated due to the aggressive deploy times required for side impact events.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an air bag system which effectively discriminates a must-deploy side impact event.